


Ruse

by powerofexoclipse



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Mystery, Smut, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 05:11:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14888267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/powerofexoclipse/pseuds/powerofexoclipse
Summary: It's the summer and twelve friends decide to stay at Junmyeon's vacation home. What seems to be a fun and exciting experience at first takes a turn for the worst as things suddenly go missing. One of them is hiding something, but if they get too close to finding out the truth, they might get hurt.





	1. Prologue

There seemed to be something fun and exciting about the idea of spending your summer break from college together with your twelve best friends in a big house located far from civilization. Prior to their arrival, they already decided in the bus who would share rooms.

 “What if we move all of the beds in the same room.” Baekhyun suggested, “Then we could all sleep together.”

 Junmyeon nodded, despite his worry that they’d ruin the wooden floor by dragging the beds over it.

 “I guess we could. The rooms are probably only big enough to fit six beds at once, I think.”

 Baekhyun’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing that. He knew Junmyeon came from a rich family and that their vacation home was probably the biggest house he would ever see, but he was only kidding when he made the suggestion about the rooms. He didn’t expect the bedrooms to be so big to actually fit six beds.

 “Yixing, Luhan, Zitao and I will share a room.” Kris stated. The four of them came here from China to study abroad, so it only made sense for them to share a room as this gave them a naturally close bond together.

 ‘’I’ll join you.’’ Minseok offered, looking directly at Luhan, who gave him a thumbs up in reply. Over the last few weeks they’d become close friends, but something seemed off about the two.

Luhan turned to face Jongdae and grinned at him.

 ‘’You’ll be joining us too, right? It will be fun.’’

 Jongdae frowned and glared in return, but eventually muttered a ‘’Sure’’ and turned back to playing on his phone. It didn’t go unnoticed, though. Kyungsoo was surprised to see his usually loud and cheerful friend who’s personality can be compared to the sun act oddly quiet for the entire bus trip. He decided to remember it and talk to him about it later, perhaps something had happened. He felt a hand grab his shoulder and he shifted his attention to Sehun.

 ‘’Will you join our room?’’ He asked. Kyungsoo nodded and gave him a slight smile.

 

* * *

 

After moving the beds around (and Junmyeon making sure no one damaged the floor), the sun had already set and the twelve friends gathered in the living room by the fireplace.

Despite the old exterior of the house, the furniture inside looked brand new and well taken care of, especially for a holiday home. Chanyeol had compared it to his grandparent’s house to describe it, only if his grandparents would have invested all their savings in the stock market and earned it back ten fold. Antique leather couches and wooden everything else. The walls decorated with paintings that looked as if they’d be worth a lot of money. The only thing that was missing was a huge layer of dust.

 '’My parents hired private cleaners to make the house dust-free before we would come.’’ Junmyeon explained, ‘’I have a dust allergy.’’

 Chanyeol wasn’t even surprised he had personal cleaners at this point. The only things that stood out in the house were the exceptionally modern kitchen and the giant TV plastered against the wall.

 ‘’I’ll check for snacks.’’ Jongin said before heading to the kitchen. He returned not much later with his arms full of snacks and a huge grin on his face as he was met with equally as much excitement from the others.

 ‘’Junmyeon, have I mentioned you’re absolutely amazing before? The storage is filled to the brim with bags of so much snacks I’ve never even heard of before.’’

The snacks were put into bowls and glasses were filled with various drinks.

 ‘’To a fantastic summer!’’ Zitao said as he raised his glass of wine. The rest followed his lead, raising their glass and cheering.

 ‘’To a fantastic summer!’’

 They continued to chatter loudly about their holiday plans until hours past midnight, until they fell asleep on the leather couches or the wooden floor as the fireplace slowly burned out.


	2. Chapter 2

Kyungsoo had woken up early after being slapped in the face by a sleeping Jongin. He slowly sat up, straightening his back and hearing a loud cracking noise coming from his spine from having slept on the floor all night. He wanted to check for the time, since it was still dark outside and he considered going to his room to get a good night rest in his bed.

There happened to be no clocks around and the nearest one was the digital timer displayed on the kitchen’s microwave. He would have checked the time on his phone, but he had left it in his bag which he stored under his bed. Unlike some other people here, Kyungsoo wasn’t a phone addict.

He got up and managed to parkour around the sleeping bodies on the floor without hitting a single one of them, to his surprise, considering some of them decided it would be okay to sprawl their incredibly long limbs all over the floor in a starfish position. It’s as if they did it on purpose to mock Kyungsoo’s own short ones.

_06:34AM_. Kyungsoo sighed. Soon the others would wake up, so it was no use taking a nap in his own bed. Instead, he opened a few cupboards until he found what he was looking for. He was awake now anyway, he figured he’d might as well make breakfast for himself and the other eleven other sleeping adult children.

He put the bacon and eggs in the separate frying pans, adding parmesan cheese to the eggs for extra flavour. He also took advantage of the kitchen’s large collection of spices and decided to experiment with them.

Sehun and Jongin came walking into the kitchen. Well, _were_ they his friends Sehun and Jongin? They shared more in common with zombies he has seen on the TV before, the will to devour human flesh being the only thing they can think about, or in this case, eggs and bacon.

“Soo, what are you making?” Jongin asked while rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“Breakfast.” He replied, matter-of-factly.

The younger two approached the stove to see what was the cause of that delicious aroma.

Sehun gasped in awe. “That looks amazing!”

Luhan entered the kitchen, most likely to see what all the commotion was about.

“What are you--whoa, Kyungsoo, you have outdone yourself.”

Kyungsoo slapped Luhan’s hand away as he reached for the bacon that was waiting on plates until the rest of the food was done.

“The three of you could help out by setting the table.”

They nodded and he had never seen a table being set so fast before. The sooner the tables were ready, the sooner they’d get to eat.

 

* * *

 

‘’You should’ve seen it!’’ Baekhyun said loudly to Yixing and Zitao at the breakfast table. Kyungsoo wondered where he got his energy from since all of them had barely slept last night.

‘’Baekhyun, you’ve been telling us the same story for weeks.’’ Zitao complained and Yixing nodded, agreeing with him, ‘’You beat Sehun at a game of Mario Kart, big deal, I could’ve done that.’’

‘’What do you mean ‘you could have done that’?’’ Sehun whined.

‘’I’m just saying you’re not that good, get over it.’’

Sehun hit him in the arm, pouting. Despite his friend’s playful bickering, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but notice that Jongdae was being quiet again. There was something unsettling about seeing him upset.

After everyone finished their breakfast and thanked him greatly for his cooking skills, Kyungsoo approached Jongdae.

‘’Do you mind helping me with the dishes?’’ He asked him, hoping to get some time alone together.

‘’Yea, sure.’’ Jongdae replied and Kyungsoo caught the small hint of relief in his voice, that he didn’t have to follow the loud, cheerful crowd back to the living room.

Kyungsoo took it upon him to wash the dishes, while the other would dry them using Junmyeon’s dishcloth that was made of a nice enough quality fabric to belong to some high end clothing brand.

‘’I’ve noticed you’ve been acting a bit distant since we got here. Is everything alright?’’ Kyungsoo broke the silence between them.

Jongdae absentmindedly kept rubbing the same spot on the plate, before sighing. It was a sign he trusted his friend and he decided it’d do no harm to open up to him.

‘’Perhaps I have. I don’t know if it was a good idea for me to come here anyway.’’

‘’Why would you think that?’’ Kyungsoo asked.

Jongdae hesitated for a moment, before replying.

‘’Luhan doesn’t like me. He may act nice to me in front of the rest of you, but…’’ He stopped to pick up the next wet dish to dry, using that time to recollect his mind.

‘’He’s been giving me those looks. His face all smug, as if he wants to bully or mock me and knowing that he has the power to do so. He hasn’t done anything yet, but I know his intentions are bad. I just do.’’

To bully him? Isn’t that a bit of an over exaggeration? To Kyungsoo, Luhan was a nice guy and a good friend. He was known as the popular soccer player on campus, not only for his outstanding looks, but also for his bright personality. No matter how much he kept comparing Jongdae’s words with the Luhan he knows, it still felt like they were both imagining different people.

‘’Are you sure about that?’’ Kyungsoo wondered, ‘’It could have been a misunderstanding.’’

However, Jongdae shook his head.

‘’No, it’s not, Soo.’’ He placed the plate and dishcloth on the kitchen counter, abandoning his task.

‘’Haven’t you noticed how ever since Minseok and me broke up, Luhan has become particularly interested in him? I don’t trust it at all. I know I’m not supposed to care about who Minseok is hanging out with, but I can’t help but to feel like Luhan is onto something.’’ He shifted his gaze to look Kyungsoo in the eye.

‘’Promise me that you’ll pay attention to him, too. I can’t be the only one noticing this. I’m not going crazy.’’

Could his mind be making this all up, because he doesn’t want Minseok to possibly date someone else not long after they broke up? Kyungsoo saw nothing but sincerity in his eyes while the other was searching his face for a sign of understanding. Eventually, he nodded and Jongdae’s tense face muscles relaxed to form a smile.

‘’What are you two doing?’’ Junmyeon asked as he entered the kitchen.

‘’The dishes.’’ Jongdae replied quickly.

Junmyeon raised his eyebrows. ‘’What? Why? You know we have a dishwasher, right?’’

‘’Really? Why haven’t you told us so earlier! You’ve got to be kidding me.’’ Jongdae whined as he watched his friend walk over to open one of the cupboards, revealing a shiny dishwasher ready to use. Kyungsoo couldn’t help but softly laugh at seeing him back to his whiny, loud self.

 

* * *

 

That afternoon Baekhyun had insisted all of them should play Mario Kart together. Baekhyun had a natural talent to be good at every game he got his hands on. Realising this wasn’t the case for everyone else here, he settled for Mario Kart. An easy racing game that wasn’t to hard for anyone to understand.

Kyungsoo was thinking back about the conversation he had with Jongdae. Watching Luhan with narrowed eyes, observing him, trying to find even the slightest hint of him being some demon wanting to torment Jongdae into madness. Nothing. He saw nothing. He didn’t realise he was staring until he felt an elbow getting jabbed between his ribs.

“Don’t make it so obvious.” Hissed Jongdae.

He glanced back over to Luhan who locked eyes with him, smiling and waving. Kyungsoo blushed, turning his attention back to the TV.

“Goddamnit!” Kris exclaimed, his Toad flying through the air on screen after being blown up by a blue shell, right before the finish and Baekhyun’s Yoshi racing past him to claim first place. Many other karts passed as Kris ended fifth.

“This is stupid, I deserved that win.” Kris complained and Kyungsoo felt sympathy for his friend. Kris was in the lead for almost the entire race with Baekhyun close behind him, until the very end. Kris really should have won. The rest seemed to agree.

Baekhyun stood up. “It wasn’t me who fired that blue shell, if you were just a little faster you could’ve made it.” He turned to face the others, grinning widely.

“Who’s next!”

Chanyeol grabbed his wrist and pulled him to sit back down.

“We get it, you’re good at Mario Kart. It’s time to give others a chance to win. Give me the controller.” He ruffled Baekhyun’s hair who laughed loudly as he handed over the controller.

Chanyeol turned to Kyungsoo and held the controller out to him.

“Soo, you haven’t played yet, right?”

Kyungsoo shook his head.

“Let’s play together, okay?”

Kyungsoo nodded.

Chanyeol explained the basics to him, what each button does and some other helpful tips.

“When you drive through one of the boxes with a question mark on them, you get an item. The items either boost your character or affect your opponents. Since you’re a beginner, I’ll make sure I will fire the items I get at the other karts.” He grinned at him. “Any questions?”

“No.” It wasn’t a hard game to understand.

Chanyeol started a new game and picked a circuit; Bowser’s Castle. The karts appeared on screen. Kyungsoo was playing as Baekhyun’s Yoshi and Chanyeol as Kris’s Toad. Numbers popped up on screen, counting down. Kyungsoo let his thumbs find the gas button and got ready to press it. Three, two, one, go. Chanyeol took the lead while Kyungsoo was left behind in the cluster of other karts. Their friends were cheering, some for Chanyeol and some for Kyungsoo. Baekhyun was shouting which buttons to press, probably cringing at how bad he was as he was a beginner. With Chanyeol using all his items on the other players instead of at him, he managed to get past them pretty easily. Despite most of his shells missing his target and everytime he used a mushroom the sudden change of speed would freak him out and have him drive against a wall, he was doing pretty well, coming as far as being third.

‘’Whoa, you’re doing well!’’ Chanyeol commented and Kyungsoo thanked him, his heart-shaped lips forming a smile.

Nearing the finish on the third lap, Chanyeol saw an opportunity to take out the kart in second place behind him with the bomb in his item slot that he’d been saving.

‘’I think I can take him out,’’ Chanyeol said, ‘’but he’s so close behind me, I’ll probably blow myself up as well.’’

‘’What? But-’’ Kyungsoo protested, but was cut off by Chanyeol.

‘’It’s fine, I can make it to second.’’ He said and pressed the button to drop the bomb behind him before Kyungsoo could stop him.

The two karts blew up, allowing Kyungsoo to pass them and finish first place.

Kyungsoo’s face lit up in a smile as he saw the golden award with a large number one next to it on screen.

‘’You’re lucky this wasn’t a bowling match,’’ Chanyeol joked, hitting Kyungsoo’s shoulder playfully, ‘’I would have kicked your ass to pieces to win.’’

He didn’t expect this game to be so enjoyable, but now that he had won, despite Chanyeol doing all the work to let him win, he understood why people liked it so much. He looked around at his cheering friends who congratulated him. However, that’s when he saw it. Luhan’s hand on Minseok’s thigh, their faces close together as Luhan laughed at something the other had said. They looked cute together, which wasn’t the unsettling thing. They were both single, there was no reason why they couldn’t act flirty with each other. It would be wrong of him to think anything bad about it. The thing that threw Kyungsoo off though, was when Luhan glanced over at Jongdae, deliberately making eye contact with him as if making sure he was watching, his fingers gripping Minseok’s thigh tighter and bringing their faces even closer together. All with a smirk on his face.

 

* * *

 

“Hey.” Kyungsoo greeted as he approached the leather couch.

“Hey!” Jongdae replied, smiling.

‘’Where are the others?’’ Kyungsoo asked, before sitting down next to him.

‘’Jongin, Sehun and Zitao are upstairs in their rooms, Baekhyun and Yixing are outside at the campfire, they took all the marshmallows in case you were wondering. The rest should be around here somewhere. I’m not sure. ’’

“Good.” Kyungsoo replied. “I wanted to talk to you. About Luhan.”

He noticed Jongdae’s body tensed up a bit. “Okay, go ahead.” He said.

Kyungsoo was silent for a few seconds, thinking about how he was going to say this. “Initially I had thought Luhan interacting with Minseok bothered you, because you don’t like the idea of Minseok dating anyone else so soon after the break-up’’ Jongdae nodded as if expecting people to think this way and understanding why they would.

‘’Well,’’ Kyungsoo continued, ‘’I think I know what you mean now. I can’t quite explain it or say how I feel about it, but I want you to know that you’re not going crazy.’’

Jongdae sighed in relief and his face brightened.

‘’Thank you.’’ He said, ‘’And don’t think I hate Luhan or something, it’s not like I forgot all the fun times we had before this. I just want clarification on what this is all about and why he’s doing it, you know?’’

Kyungsoo nodded. He was about to say more, but Yixing entered the living room through the door connecting with the garden. He was carrying a passed out Baekhyun who had looked so small in Yixing’s toned arms. Kyungsoo and Jongdae turned to look at the two with raised eyebrows.

‘’Uhm, what the hell are you doing?’’ Jongdae questioned.

‘’He fell asleep.’’ Yixing replied, closing the door shut with his foot. ‘’It was getting cold outside and besides, it’s late. I figured I’d let him sleep.’’

Jongdae shrugged.

‘’Fair enough.’’

Poor guy, Kyungsoo thought. All of them had barely slept last night, but Baekhyun seemed to radiate energy during the day. He probably burned it all up into exhaustion by now. Being the calm person he is, Kyungsoo never understood how Baekhyun had the energy to always be bright and cheerful.

They watched Yixing leave with Baekhyun. When they were out of sight, Jongdae turned to Kyungsoo.

‘’We should go to bed, too,’’ He suggested. ‘’Yixing was right, it’s late.’’

Kyungsoo agreed and the both of them headed upstairs.


End file.
